A moment like this makes you take a step back and realize that there is a lot more to running a college football program than just winning.

But never did my thoughts turn to, hey, this would be a great opportunity for Greg Schiano’s “ticket out.”

However, this seemed to be the tone of the Star-Ledger's Editorial.
Not all was wrong with the post though. There was some commentary that was pointed and direct:

(Joe) Paterno punted his moral obligation to report to law-enforcement authorities serious accusations made against former coach Jerry Sandusky in 2002. He left the job to athletic director Tim Curley, who now has been charged with a cover-up. Paterno insists he did what was required legally, but he did the bare minimum by telling Curley, his boss.

Paterno should have done more.

Good view. They should have quit when they were ahead. Here comes the pitch:

Which brings us to Schiano. Win-loss record aside, Schiano would be a perfect candidate for the Penn State job. He’s young. He’s clean. He’s in control. He has coached at Penn State and knows the university.

Sounds like good enough reasons to keep him in Piscataway. Oh, but wait the Star-Ledger Editorial Board apparently knows Schiano’s deepest thoughts:

And, deep down, whether he admits it publicly, he wants the job.

And they know this how? I say he stays at Rutgers and New Jersey as long as he can. Deep down, whether he admits it publicly or not, he wants to win national championships in New Jersey. I know this in the same way, they know he wants the Penn State job. Well, except he actually said what I say he is thinking.

Now the grand finale in the post:

Penn State and Rutgers would have to negotiate the price of releasing Schiano from his current contract.

That is just wrong. In no other state would you see the flagship media outlet advocating for another state to steal one of its assets. Let’s look at some other high profile former Penn State players or coaches.
The Miami Herald And Al GoldenAl Golden is the Head Coach of Miami and a former Penn State player. Surely he’d be a possible candidate to replace Joe Paterno. I visit the Miami Herald. I come across this blog post on the sports front page:

Not that there is any good to come out of this situation, but you can see a different approach was taken. Surely the Miami Herald Editorial Board blew that one. How could they not have taken this opportunity to advocate Penn State poaching their coach?

Or maybe it is not natural to root against your own. Your own state, your own state university.

The Rutgers Resume: More Than Football
What the Editorial Board should have done is talk about how few off-the-field problems have taken place at Rutgers in Schiano's 11 seasons. The 1-2 finishes in the NCAA Academic Progress Rate over the last two years. The importance of the branding of the Block R and R Football to the university. The family atmosphere he has created. The way he has handled the Eric Legrand injury. All the talking points that show Schiano is not here just for the short term and has more than just Ws on his mind.

Penn State & Rutgers: Different Paths
It is clear that for the sake of preserving the institution that Penn State Football is those who aided in downplaying these allegations and sweeping eye witness accounts under the rug, pushed Jerry Sandusky to retire. He went on to head a children’s charity foundation?!
In other words they enabled his sickness.

That is something they will have to answer to, and in more ways than just with the law.

The Big Win
Greg Schiano has one problem as a coach. Except for one magical November night five years ago he can not come up with the big win. When Rutgers squandered a 31-21 halftime lead against West Virginia last Saturday, they also most likely let the ever elusive Big East title slip away yet again. You can not win a conference championship when you can not beat the two teams that have won the title four of the last six years.

Greg Schiano is 1-15 against West Virginia and Cincinatti. That is his football shortcoming.

Rutgers And Penn State: Crossroads
Rutgers football is at a crossroads. After a breakout season five years ago, they have not been able to take the program to the next level. It is unknown whether the program is stalling, after all they did reel in a very impressive recruiting class last season and have a lot of young talent. However, we have heard that before.

Penn State football was at a crossroads in 1999 too. After going 12-0 and winning a Big Ten Championship in 1994, one and two losses seasons gave way to three loss seasons. Life in the Big Ten wasn’t getting any easier. Surely there was negative recruiting going on. Paterno’s age and long tenure were already being called into question. Penn State finished 10-3 in 1999, but then followed up with 5-7 and 5-6 campaigns in 2000 and 2001.

You can only wonder what a sex-abuse scandal might have done to recruiting in 2002.

No such scandal emerged. We will soon learn why. Penn State eventually bounced back and broke out again with 11 win seasons in 2005 and 2008.

The winning was back in Happy Valley.

Arrested Development
However in that period from 2002 to the summer of 2008, 46 Penn State football players faced 163 criminal charges, according to an ESPN analysis of Pennsylvania court records and reports. Twenty-seven players were convicted of or have pleaded guilty to a combined 45 counts.

I can count on one hand how many Rutgers players have had brushes with the law while at Rutgers under Greg Schiano’s 11 year tenure.

In case you were wondering things haven’t gotten much better since 2008 at Penn State.

According to a Sports Illustrated report earlier in the year, there are 16 players on the 2010 Penn State football roster with criminal backgrounds, this counts every player who has committed a crime before or while at Penn State.

That is 16 of the 105 players on the roster. Is that what it takes to win?

What We HaveRutgers will go to its fifth bowl game in six seasons in 2011.

The Scarlet Knights will most likely be relegated to the Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium on a freezing December afternoon. Such is life in the Big East. Either you win it all or you are off playing in some ungodly location on a pre-holiday afternoon.

To some that is not enough.

To others on a day like this, that is enough. You can rest assure that the chances of a scandal taking place at the State University of New Jersey like this is minimal under the watch of Schiano.

To me this is enough to appreciate the coach we have today. Not to advocate he leaves a prized institution of the state we live in to “clean up Paterno’s mess and help the university” of another state.

You would think the Editorial Board of the state's main media outlet would share the same belief as well.